Previous research tested cats with spinal cord lesions transecting the entire cord except for portions of the dorsal columns (and in some cases possibly also the dorsal lateral columns). They showed that these cats failed to orient to stimuli below the level of the lesion, but could use such stimuli as discriminative stimuli to guide behavior. In addition, the cats exhibited paroxysmal biting and licking of parts of the body below the level of the lesion. Unit recordings from the hind paw projection in somatosensory area I showed a sharp reduction in the proportion of units drivable from the normal hind paw input and the appearance of some units that were drivable from the foreleg. In the proposed research a series of cats will be prepared with cord lesions sparing different components of the somatosensory afferent pathways. Electrophysiological and behavioral data will be collected to determine: 1) the basis of the dissociation between tactile discrimination and orientation; 2) the mechanism responsible for the change in the properties of the units in the hind paw projections, and 3) the basis for the appearance of paroxysmal licking and biting.